Pressure BioSciences inks deal for initial $600,000 tranche of $1.2-mln financing

Pressure BioSciences (PINK:PBIO) announced Tuesday an agreement with 17 investors for an initial $600,000 tranche of an "above-market" $1.2 million private placement financing.
Proceeds from the financing will be used toward the commercialization of its pressure cycling technology (PCT) product platform, which is geared for the biological sample preparation market.
The life sciences company also announced that it has reduced the size of its board of directors from eight to five, with new appointees Vito Mangiardi and Wall Street exec Kevin Pollack.
Under the agreement announced Tuesday, the initial tranche will consist of the sale of roughly 120,000 units at a price of $5.00 each.
Each unit consists of one share of series G preferred stock that is convertible into ten shares of common stock at a price of 50 cents per share, and a warrant to purchase five shares of restricted common stock.
Warrants are exercisable for a period of three years, at a price of 50 cents per share.
The company said roughly $485,000 of the $600,000 initial tranche was received in cash, and $115,000 will be from the conversion of debt.
The seventeen investors in the initial tranche consist of members of the company’s new and old board of directors, all officers of the company, and several existing accredited investors in Pressure BioSciences, it said.
The $600,000 financing is expected to close by Friday, while one or more additional tranches in the private placement is anticipated to close before the end of August.
Pressure BioSciences said the funds will be used to support the company’s pressure cycling technology commercialization program, which has been gaining momentum.  Funds will also be directed toward general working capital purposes.
The company's platform uses rapid and repeating cycles of hydrostatic pressure at controlled temperatures to extract cell components in the preparation of a biological sample, such as DNA and proteins from humans, animals and plants, for further study.
Since Pressure Bio began commercial operations in the middle of 2007, it has come a long way, releasing a number of PCT-based products geared towards the $6 billion sample preparation market, including three pressure-generating instruments named Barocyclers, a patent-pending sample homogenization device (The Shredder SG3), five types of single-use processing containers and six different, application-specific reagent kits.
With regards to the new size of the company's board of directors, Pressure BioSciences said the new smaller board will offer "significant value to its commercialization program and its efforts to secure additional capital."
“First I want to offer my appreciation to Cal, Don, Alan, Alan, and Greg for their years of service to our company," said the company’s president and CEO, Richard T. Schumacher.
"Their counsel and support has been very helpful as we developed our powerful PCT Platform and readied it for aggressive commercialization.
"Second, I want to commend their unselfish action in stepping aside at this important time, to allow the company to reduce its Board size to a more reasonable and manageable number."
New appointee Mangiardi is a senior executive with past positions as president, CEO, and COO in the life sciences and bio energy product and service sectors.
Pollack is currently a managing director at the private investment firm Paragon Capital, and president of Short Hills Capital, where he advises investors, asset management firms, institutions, and companies.
Pressure BioSciences is focused on the development, marketing, and sale of proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables based on its PCT platform.
The company announced at the beginning of May that it signed a strategic co-development, co-marketing, and co-selling agreement with LEAP Technologies.
Under the agreement, the companies intend to develop a next generation sample preparation system by combining Pressure BioSciences' PCT platform with LEAP’s proprietary robotics and lab automation equipment.
LEAP Technologies has been providing proprietary robotics and laboratory automation equipment and support for specific applications for over 20 years.